A gurukul for rural children steeped in Gandhian values

It is 5 a.m. on Wednesday. The wake up bell for the inmates of Gandhi Grameen Gurukul Residential School at Hosaritti (Haveri district in Karnataka) has already been rung. Like other inmates of the Gurukul, Class VIII students Ravi Lamani, Vijay Karennavar and Yallappa Talawar have completed their daily chores and are ready for the All Religion Prayer at 5.30 a.m.

It is 5 a.m. on Wednesday. The wake up bell for the inmates of Gandhi Grameen Gurukul Residential School at Hosaritti (Haveri district in Karnataka) has already been rung. Like other inmates of the Gurukul, Class VIII students Ravi Lamani, Vijay Karennavar and Yallappa Talawar have completed their daily chores and are ready for the All Religion Prayer at 5.30 a.m.

They have special duties assigned to them for the day. After prayer, yoga and bath, they have to reach the kitchen as early as possible as ‘kitchen duty’ has been assigned to their ‘Vivekananda House’. Likewise the members of various houses named after freedom fighters and eminent personalities have been assigned various duties including serving food, cleaning up premises and other works.

At 8.30 a.m., the breakfast bell rings and within a few minutes children clad in khadi uniforms wearing Gandhi caps assemble at the ‘Prasad Nilaya’ (Dining Hall) carrying their plates and glasses. The designated kitchen volunteers for the day quickly serve them breakfast and nutrition drinks. Once everyone is served, they recite shlokas in chorus, and bow down to Mother Earth before beginning to eat.

After breakfast, they have time till 9.45 a.m., and then they assemble again for school prayer. But Class X students like Lingaraja Mahabalashettar, Naveengouda Patil, Karthik Mathapati, Balesh Dalawai have to attend special classes.

At the prayer time, the khadi clad students sing patriotic songs, state and national anthem. Chosen students take a minute each to speak about a topic in each subject and languages. Headlines of Kannada and English dailies are also read out. Students then hurry to their classes as they are reminded that only 95 days are remaining for the SSLC examination.

Their classes, however, are very different from how they are in normal schools. Every week they spend five to six hours in the khadi section, vegetable garden, cattle shed and farmland spread over 32- acre campus of the Gurukul, which is the lone school in entire Karnataka, which imparts and practices Gandhian ideas and values.

In this unique school, the students of class V to X learn the lessons of life through farming, dairy farming, spinning, weaving, experimenting along with studying the prescribed curriculum. Imparting education based on Gandhian values was the dream the Gandhian, Congressman and legislator Hallikeri Gudleppa.